Sukuk Market Still Resilient, Says RAM

PETALING JAYA: RAM Ratings said the Malaysian sukuk market is still showing some resilience based on its expectations for the fourth quarter of 2015 (Q4’15) following the cascade observed this year stemming from lacklustre macroeconomic conditions.

In 2014, total sukuk PDS issuance amounted to RM45.5 billion which was close to 50% of the RM92.1 billion of total PDS issued.

As at end-September, total PDS issuance reached RM60.7 billion of which corporate sukuk accounted for 43% or RM25.9 billion.

“We expect potential infrastructure sukuk issuance in Q4’15 to shore up total issuance to between RM35 billion and RM40 billion, which is still a respectable level given the challenging market conditions,” RAM’s head of Islamic finance Ruslena Ramli said in a statement yesterday.

“While the final count on sukuk issued will still be dependent on ever-changing market conditions and sentiment, we are confident that sukuk issuances will make up 50% of PDS issuances by end-2015,” she added.

To date, RAM said the Securities Commission (SC) has approved a total of 16 corporate sukuk issuances valued at RM31.8 billion in the first half of 2015, a 46% increase from the RM21.7 billion recorded for the same period last year.

As at September, the total number of corporate sukuk issuances approved by the SC had grown to 21, amounting to RM46.2 billion.